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Disability Rights

Disability rights are broadly protected under California’s Unruh Civil Rights Act, which ensures all business establishments in California, such as housing and public accommodations not discriminate based on age, ancestry, color, disability, national origin, race, religion, sex, and sexual orientation.

More pointedly, California Civil Codes Sections 54 through 55.2 and Title 24 California Code of Regulations clearly state that “individuals with disabilities or medical conditions have the same right as the general public to the full and free use of the streets, highways, sidewalks, walkways, public buildings, medical facilities, including hospitals, clinics, and physicians’ offices, public facilities, and other public places.” And, similarly, people “with disabilities are entitled to full and equal access, as other members of the general public, to all housing accommodations offered for rent, lease, or compensation.”

But while the rights of the disable seem well enough protected, California’s budget crisis presents a new wave of challenges.